Ho Chi Minh
|profession(s) = Prime Minister of North Vietnam|allegiance(s) = North Vietnamese Army, Viet Cong}}Ho Chi Minh (Born May 19th, 1890) served as the president of North Vietnam from 1945, until his death in 1969. Minh had prime charge as the commander-in-chief of the North Vietnamese Army, and the Viet Cong alike. He was a pro-communist, and supported communism. Early Life Born on April 19th, 1890 into the village of Hoàng Trù, Minh was born alongside his three siblings, Bạch Liên, his sister, a brother named Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm, and another much younger brother, Nguyễn Sinh Nhuận, who died during infancy. Ho Chi Minh's actual birth-year is disputed, with some saying that it was anywhere from 1891-1895, but it is widely-accepted that Minh was most likely born in 1890. From 1895, Minh grew up in his father's (Nguyễn Sinh Huy) village of Làng Sen, Kim Liên, Nam Đàn, Nghệ An Province. As a young child, Minh studied alongside his Father, who was interested in formal educational classes, Minh quickly mastered Chinese writing. Aside from Minh's advanced studies, he was fond of adventuring and flying his kite.Due to Minh's family following the Confucian tradition, his father gave him a new name at the age of 10: Nguyễn Tất Thành.("Nguyễn the Accomplished"). Minh's father was a Confucian scholar, and was demoted due to abuse of power after an influential figure had died from having been beat 102 times with a cane as the result of an infraction. Minh's father was still allowed to serve in the imperial bureaucracy, but ultimately refused because it meant serving with the French. Because of this, the young Minh was exposed to rebellion at an early age. Rise to Power Ho Chi Minh led the Viet Minh independence movement, and thus, established the Communist-ruled Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The clear Communist northern half of Vietnam created an ideological split between the southern parts of Vietnam, those of which disagreed with the communist way of leading a country. Following Emperor Bảo Đại's abdication on 2 September 1945, Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam, under the name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Whilst in Saigon, a violent tendency between rival Vietnamese factions and French factions were often. Due to this, the British commander, General Sir Douglas Gracey, declared martial law. On 24th September, the Việt Minh leaders responded with a call for a general strike of Saigon, or to attack the French forces. Ho Chi Minh made a compromise with the Chinese general, Lu Han, which stated to dissolve the communist party and that an election should be held, in theory the election would start a coalition government. The agreement soon fell apart. The purpose of the agreement, for both the French and Viet Minh, was for Chiang's (Former President of China) army to leave North Vietnam. After the Chinese pulled out of North Vietnam, fighting between the French resumed. The Communists eventually crushed all non-Communist parties, but Communist forces had failed to get a peace-deal with France. A bombardment which was located in Haiphong by French forces at Hanoi (both located in Vietnam) strengthened the belief that France would in no way allow an independent state to rise to power in Vietnam. The bombardment of Haiphong killed more than 6000 Vietnamese civilians. The French forces continued to seize Hanoi, now the capital city of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. On the 19th of December 1946, after the Haiphong bombardment, Ho Chi Minh declared war against the French Union, marking the beginning of the Indochina War. Although poorly armed, Ho Chi Minh's forces still would assault, and leave an impact on the French Union. In 1950, after the French border blockade was removed, Minh had traveled to Moscow to meet with fellow communists, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, after the Soviet Union had recognized Minh's government. They all agreed that China would be backing Việt Minh. In 1954, the First Indochina War came to an end after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, more than 10,000 French Union soldiers surrendered to the Viet Minh (Vietnamese) fighters. Becoming President and The Vietnam War Shortly after the French had removed soldiers in 1954, the communists had settled outposts in Southern Vietnam. Naturally, the United States feared a domino effect, in which if a certain county, Vietnam in this case, fell to communism, so would neighboring countries. Due to this, and the fact that Southern Vietnam opposed a communist one-state government, the United States had decided to support and back Southern Vietnam, thus splitting the country into North, and South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh took charge as commander-in-chief for North Vietnam, and had power over the North Vietnamese Army, and the guerrilla warfare group, the Viet Cong. Many attempts to assassinate Minh were plotted, but none fully succeeded. On September 2nd, 1969, six years before the Vietnam War ended, Minh had died due to a congestive heart problem. Category:North Vietnamese Category:Communists Category:Foreign Presidents Category:North Vietnamese Army Category:Viet Cong Category:People